Instrument mounting panel and clip



E. w.-su vEY INSTRUMENT MOUNTING PANEL AND CLIP Filed Nov. 5, 1955 Feb.25, 1958 FIG. 4

INVENTOR. 5/1 0 MQV/WQ/ United States Elden W. Silvey, Galesburg, 111.,assignor to Midwest Manufacturing Corporation, Galesburg, Ill.

Application November 3, 1955, Serial No. 544,734

8 Claims. (Cl. 248-27) This invention relates to supports for mountingand supporting instruments on panels.

While the invention may be applied variously, its advantages are perhapsmost completely developed When it is used to mount an instrument on theback of a panel, with the instrument visible through an opening in thepanel, and with a glass or like transparent cover over the opening.

Typical of the many kinds of such instrument are the clocks, timers,etc., on cook stoves.

The instrument, the panel opening, and cover, may be of various shapes,but, to make a concrete disclosure herein, these parts will beconsidered as rectangular.

The invention, in the embodiment thereof described in full hereinafter,comprises in general the following; the actual invention being that setforth in the appended claims.

The panel on which the instrument is mounted has a rectangularinstrument opening therein.

The instrument to be mounted is in an instrument casing, having a flangespaced behind the panel opening.

The instrument is covered by a rectangular glass or other transparentcover, disposed in the panel opening, and is smaller at its peripherythan the panel opening, thereby providing a rectangular slot-like spacearound its periphery.

An escutcheon is provided, of rectangular frame formed forwardly convexin the form of an ornamental bezel, and covering, the said slot-likespace, and engaging the front of the panel and the front of the glasscover.

The escutcheon has an escutcheon flange in the form of a shortrectangulartube or collar extending rearwardly through said slot-likespace, andcontinuing into a number of escutcheon tongues. Theends of thetongues extend through holes in the casing flange, and also throughholes in metal attaching devices.

The attaching devices comprise spacers between .the rearward casing andthe forward panel and cover, and comprise parts having perforationstherein that grip the tongues and secure the tongues to the casingflange, and hold the tongues rearwardly; and the spacers are thereby putunder compression.

' The attaching devices are made to automatically grip thetongues by theoperation of projecting the tongues through the perforations.

The escutcheon collar in the slot-like space centers the escutcheon andthe cover with respect to the panel opening and positions the bezel tocover the slot-like opening.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the construction of the partsand their mutual cooperation when assembled, cause the instrumentcasing, the glass cover and the ornamental bezel, all to be positionedand mounted on the panel, by the operation of telescoping the escutcheontongues through the said gripping perforations.

The objects of the inventions are:

To provide an improved support or mounting for an instrument on a panel,having the features of improvement described above; H

To provide a support or mounting for an instrument on a panel the partsof which may be assembled in an improved manner to effect said mounting.

An embodiment of the invention in its preferred form is fully disclosedin the following description, taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing in which:

Fig. 1 is an exploded view of the invention in one form, showing inperspective an instrument casing, a fragment of a panel, a transparentcover, an escutcheon, and a set of metal devices for assembling themtogether;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. l, of a modification of the invention,showing only one of a set of modified metal devices and showing theother parts fragmentarily;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing the parts of the form of Fig. 1 afterassembly, and the view may be referred to the plane 3--3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 of the said modification referred tothe plane 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are respectively front elevational, end elevational andtop plan views of a metal clip device of the form of Fig. '1;

Figs. 8, 9 and 10 are respectively front elevational, end elevationaland bottom plan views of a metal clip device of the modification of Fig.2.

Referring to the drawing there is shown in Fig. 1, at 1 the casing of aninstrument; and at 2 a fragment of a panel behind and upon which theinstrument casing 1 is to be mounted, and having an opening 3therethrough; and at 4 a pane of glass or like transparent material, tocover the instrument and to be mounted in the opening 3, and throughwhich the instrument is to be viewed.

Only the casing 1 of the instrument is shown, it being understood thatthe indicating parts of the instrument will be on the front of thecasing toward the observer, but have been omitted to simplify thedrawing.

The openings 3 and cover 4 are shown of rectangular shape to correspondwith a rectangular instrument but as will be understood they may be ofother shapes for other types of instrument.

At 5 is an escutcheon, which as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 (see also Fig. 2of a similar escutcheon to be referred to) is in the form of a pictureframe rectangle; comprising a forwardly convex ornamental bezel portion6 having rearwardly divergent legs 7- and 8, and, between the legs, arearwardly extending flange 9.

The flange 9. preferably is continuous all the way around therectangular escutcheon and therefore is in the form of a shortrectangular tube or collar. Y Extending rearwardly from the collar 9 aretongues 10.

Preferably there are four tongues 10, in pairs on opposite sides of therectangle, one pair on one side being shown in Fig. 1. I I

The glass cover 4 is preferably to be mounted in the panel opening 3 andcoplanar therewith, and is made somewhat smaller than the opening,leaving a slot-like space 11 all around the cover, see Fig. 3.

The escutcheon is to be mounted as will be more fully described, withthe divergent legs 7 and 8 respectively abutting upon the front of thepanel 2 and upon the front of the glass cover 4, and with the escutcheoncollar 9 extending rearwardly through the said slot-like space 11; andit will be seen that the escutcheon collar 9 will then be supported inthe panel opening, for example on the lower edge of the opening, andthat it will center the glass cover in the panel opening, and support ittherein, for example with the lower edge of the cover on the collar, andthat the bezel, by its legs 7 and 8 will cover and conceal the slot-likespace 11 and the collar 9.

The instrument casing 1 has flanges 12 and 13 projecting laterally fromthe upper and lower sides thereof, as viewed, and they are respectivelyprovided with pairs of perforations 14-14 and 15-45 disposed to beaxially alignable with the said pairs of escutcheon tongues 10, andthrough which perforations the ends of the tongues may be projected; andthis is done during assembly; and these as will be referred to, thepanel 2, cover 4, casing 1 and escutcheon 5 will be in the relationshown in Fig. 3 wherein as is shown there is a considerable space 16between the rearward and the forward panel and cover.

Four alike clip devices 17, formed from resilient metal, are provided asshown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7, two of which appear in Fig. 3.

The devices 17 each comprise a generally U-form body 18 with anelongated clip perforation 19 in the closed end of the U-form, and oneleg 20 of the U-form being substantially rigid and bent over at its endto provide a rounded abutment portion 21. The other leg of the U-formhas, at its end, oppositely extending resilient fingers 22.

To assemble the parts thus far described, the escutcheon collar 9 isprojected through the said slot-like space 11, between the panel and thecover; the clip perforations 19 are telescoped over the escutcheoncollar tongues (being shaped and sized to loosely fit the same); toengage the rounded abutments 21 of the clip devices with the back sideof the panel 2, and to engage the resilient fingers 22 of the clipdevices with the back side of the glass cover 4. The ends of the tongues10 are then pro jected through and beyond the perforations 14 and in theinstrument casing flanges 12 and 13.

Self locking and gripping nut devices 23-23 are then pressed onto theprojecting ends of the tongues 10 rearwardly of the casing flanges12--13.

These self locking nut devices are made from fiat resilient sheet metal,and comprise each an elongated perforation 24 therein, Fig. 1 formed totelescope freely over the tongues 10 in the forward direction, and tolockingly engage with or clutch the tongue against retraction in therearward direction. To this end the perforations 24 are elongated and ofabout the same size as the tongues, but the longitudinal ends of theperfora' tions constitute the confronting ends of tongues bent out ofthe plane of the metal.

Such self locking nut devices, generally, are well known.

The self locking nut devices 23 are pressed upon the tongue 10 farenough to put the clip devices 17 under compression, in the said space16, to force the rounded abutments 21 forwardly against the back of thepanel 2; and to press the resilient fingers 22 forwardly against theback of the glass cover 4, and the escutcheon collar 9 is thus heldrearwardly and holds the bezel legs 78 tightly 7 rately in Figs. 8, 9and 10 and in section in Fig. 4. This clip device 25 incorporates thefunction of both the self locking nut device 23 and the clip device 17of the first form.

In this form, Fig. 2, the casing flange 12A, corresponds to the casingflange 12 of the first form, by having per forations 14 therein, one ofwhich is shown to loosely receive a tongue 10 on the escutcheon collar9; and the flange 12A also has, near the opposite ends of theperforations 14, outwardly open slots 26-26.

The clip device 25 is in general of U-form as seen in Figs. 2 and 9, oneleg 27 of which is substantially rigid and terminates in a bent overrounded abutment 28; the other leg consisting solely of two spaced apartresilient fingers 2929 bent over at their ends, into abutment portions30.

The closed end of the U-form has an elongated perforation 31 therein, ingeneral of the size and shape to receive an escutcheon tongue 10 whenprojected therethrough, but the end edges of the perforations 31 are onthe confronting ends of tongues 32--32, Fig. 10 formed in the closed endof the U-form; and these perforations 32 are therefore similar to theperforations 24 in the self-locking nut devices 23 of the first form.

In making the assembly to mount the instrument cas' ing, the clip device25 is presented to the side of the casing flange as in Fig. 2 and thenmoved downwardly, as viewed, to dispose the fingers 2929 in the slots26- 26 and to dispose the closed end of the U-form behind the casingflange 12A, with the perforation 31 thereon aligned with the perforation14 in the casing flange, the parts in this position being shown in Fig.4.

As will be understood, there will be four tongues 10 on the escutcheoncollar 9, and four devices 25, and the tongues 10 are projected firstthrough the perforations, such as 14 in the instrument flanges and thenon through the perforations 31 in the clip devices, to put the saidabutments 30 and 28 of the U-form legs of the clip devices underpressure against the backs of the panel and cover; and the edges of theperforations 31 being formed for the purpose as described, will thengrip the tongues 10 and be held thereon against retraction.

As in the first form, the instrument casing and the cover are thussupported on the panel.

In both of the forms of the invention, when the parts are assembled, theclip device, 17 or 25, is a spacer put under compression in the space 16between therearward casing, and the forward panel; the compression beingdetermined in amount by the extent to which the collar tongues areprojected through the said gripplng perforations; and the compressionthus produced is maintained by the collar due to its reacting at itsforward part on the panel and at its rearward part on the casing towhich it is ri ed. I

"fh resilient fingers, 22 or 29, of the clip device cushion thecompression of the device on the glass cover, and protect it againstfracture that might occur if both fingers were rigid; but the resilientfingers by being yleldable also permit the entire clip device to rock onthe tongues projected through them, when the compressio n is produced asdescribed, thereby rendermg tne entire clip device resiliently yieldableunder said compression; and obviating the possibility of looseness inany of the parts.

Having thus described my invention, I realize that extensive departuremay be made therefrom wlthout departing from the true scope and spiritthereof.

I claim: I

1. In combination, a support panel having an opening therein, asupported element behind said opening in the panel, a cover in saidopening in the support panel and having marginal edges spaced from theedges of said opening, an escutcheon at the front of said support panelpresenting portions which engage the front of sa1d support panel and thefront of said cover, respectively, said escutcheon having rearwardlyextending portions which project back between said marginal edges of thecover and the edges of said opening in the support panel to saidsupported element, and clip means connecting said rearwardly extendingportions of the escutcheon to said supported element and presentingforwardly projecting portions which engage the back of said cover.

2. In combination, a support panel having an opening therein, asupported element behind said opening in the panel and presenting a wallwith apertures therein, a transparent pane in said opening in thesupport panel and having marginal edges spaced from the edges of saidopening, an escutcheon at the front of said support panel extendingaround said opening and presenting portions which engage the front ofsaid support panel and the front of said transparent pane, respectively,said escutcheon having portions which project rearwardly between theedges of said transparent pane and the edges of said opening in thesupport panel and through said apertures in the wall of the supportedelement, and clip means engaging said rearwardly projecting portions ofthe escutcheon in back of said wall of the supported element andpresenting forwardly projecting portions which engage the back of saidsupport panel and the back of said transparent pane, respectively.

3. The combination of claim 2, wherein the portions of said clip meanswhich engage the support panel are substantially rigid, and the portionsof said clip means which engage the transparent pane are resilient.

4. In combination, a support panel having an opening therein, aninstrument casing behind said opening in the support panel andpresenting a front wall which has outwardly projecting flanges, saidflanges having apertures therethrough, a transparent pane in saidopening in the support panel and having marginal edges spaced from theedges of said opening, an escutcheon rim at the front of said supportpanel extending around the edges of said opening, said escutcheon rimhaving rearwardly projecting outer legs which engage the front of saidsupport panel adjacent the edges of said opening therein, saidescutcheon rim having rearwardly projecting inner legs which engage thefront of said transparent pane adjacent the latters marginal edges, saidescutcheon rim also having rearwardly protruding portions which extendrearwardly between the marginal edges of said transparent pane and theedges of said opening in the support panel and through said apertures inthe flanges on the front wall of the instrument casing, and individualspring clip means engaging said rearwardly protruding portions of theescutcheon rim at the back of said flanges, each of said spring clipmeans presenting forwardly projecting por tions between said front wallof the instrument panel and the backs of said support panel and saidtransparent pane which respectively engage the back of said supportpanel adjacent the edges of said opening therein and the back of saidtransparent pane adjacent the latters marginal edges.

5. The combination of claim 4, wherein the portions of said clip meanswhich engage the back of the support panel are substantially rigid, andthe portions of said clip means which engage the back of the transparentpane are resilient.

6. The combination of claim 5, wherein said rearwardly protrudingportions of the escutcheon rim comprise a flange which is continuousaround the marginal edges of the transparent pane and which terminatesat its rear end in front of said front wall of the instrument casing,and individual tongues integral with said continu- 6 ous flange on theescutcheon rim which project rearwardly through the apertures in theflanges on the front wall of the instrument casing.

7. The combination of claim 4, wherein each clip means comprises aself-locking nut which is telescoped over the corresponding rearwardlyprotruding portion of the escutcheon rim and engages the back of thecorresponding flange on the front wall of the instrument casing, and aresilient body under compression between the front of said flange on thefront wall of the instrument casing and the backs of the support paneland the transparent panel, said resilient body comprising asubstantially rigid leg at one side of said rearwardly protrudingportion of the escutcheon rim which engages the back of the supportpanel, a leg at the opposite side of said rearwardly protruding portionof the escutcheon rim which terminates at its forward end in resilientfingers engaging the back of the transparent pane, and a portion whichconnects said legs engaged against the front of said flange on the frontwall of the instrument panel and formed with an aperture through whichsaid rearwardly protruding portion of the escutcheon rim extends.

8. The combination of claim 4, wherein each clip means is in the form ofan integral body having a back wall engaged against the back of thecorresponding flange on the front wall of the instrument casing, saidback wall being formed to define a self-locking nut telescoped over thecorresponding rearwardly protruding portion of the escutcheon rim, asubstantially rigid leg which projects from said back wall at one sideof said rearwardly protruding portion of the escutcheon rim forwardacross a marginal edge of said flange and into engagement with the backof said support panel, and resilient fingers which project forward fromsaid back wall at the opposite side of said rearwardly protrudingportion of the escutcheon rim through said flange into engagement withthe back of said transparent pane.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,744,010 Pineau Ian. 14, 1930 1,897,966 Zubaty et al. Feb. 14, 19332,441,215 Tyler May 11, 1948 2,494,669 Nodine Jan. 17, 1950 FOREIGNPATENTS 257,446 Great Britain Sept. 2, 1926

